Turn Off the Motor

The mind needs a time to rest. Our minds are like motors, and ever since we learned language, we’ve been talking to ourselves. It’s like keeping a motor and just letting it run, run, run all the time. Sometimes you have to use it, sometimes you don’t. But even when you don’t have to use it, you find the mind is just still running, running, running. And, of course, it’s going to get worn down.

It’s like having your car in the garage and keeping the engine running just in case you need to jump in sometime. If you want to learn how to take proper care of the motor, take proper care of the car, you have to turn the motor off. Take time to check the oil, check the water, make sure that everything is in running order. Then, when you need it, you turn it on. When you don’t need it, you turn it off.

It’s the same with the mind. There are times when you have to think. But if you just keep thinking, thinking, thinking, to use another analogy, it’s like cutting something with a knife and just cutting, cutting, cutting and never stopping to polish or sharpen the knife. The knife is going to get dull. Even though you can use it to make some marks on what you’re cutting, after a while it gets so dull that it doesn’t cut things through. So you have to let it rest, sharpen it, put it away for a while. Then when you need it, you can pull it out. Then with one slice, and you cut right through.

It’s the same with the mind. If you want to think properly, you also have to learn how to not think. In other words, tell yourself to be still with just one thing. You start with some thinking, which is stay with the breath. You’re thinking about the breath, trying to adjust it so that it feels good inside. But then it gets to the point where you don’t have to think about it anymore. Just hold in mind the bare concept of breath, breath, breath. And the mind gets to rest. When you rest it, not only does it gain strength, but you also see it a lot more clearly. You can see where its bad impulses are coming from. It’s like checking the motor. You turn off the motor, and you see: How’s the oil? How’s the coolant? How are the brake fluids?—all the different parts of the car. You see them most clearly when the engine is still.

So take some time to get your mind really still. Remind yourself that you don’t have to be thinking all the time. Then your thinking will become a lot more effective if you learn when not to think, just to be still. Give the mind a chance to rest and gather its strength.